Category: Devotional Thoughts

Post relating to items the Lord impresses me to share.

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Conservative While Revolutionary

Excerpts taken from George R. Knight’s articles, “The Social Function of Adventist Education” *

Genesis 18: 19 – “For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken about him.” – From <https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Ge18.19>

Abraham was chosen because God saw that he would be faithful in teaching his household.

Matthew 28: 19-20 – “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” – From <https://biblia.com/books/nasb95/Mt28.19>

Jesus’s parting words were “teach all nations”

The future of any society will be shaped by its current youth. And the direction they will take that society will to a large extent be determined by their education. Thus, the control of educational institutions and the content to be taught in those institutions has been a perennial social issue.

To shape educational policy is to guard the path that leads from the present to the future . . . . – George S. Counts

God’s ideal for Seventh-day Adventist education reflects both a conservative social function and a revolutionary one. It is to be conservative in the sense that it seeks to transmit the unchanging truths of the Bible across time, but it is to be revolutionary as a change agent of a righteous God in a sinful world.

In harmony with the Bible, Adventist education will develop Christians who can relate well to others in this world. But even more important, Adventist schools will educate students for citizenship in the kingdom of heaven.

*This article originally appeared as a chapter in George R. Knight’s most recent publication Educating for Eternity: A Seventh-day Adventist Philosophy of Education (Berrien Springs, Mich.: Andrews University Press, 2016). Reprinted by permission of the publisher. See also the review of the book in the Book Review section. – From <https://dialogue.adventist.org/2325/the-social-function-of-adventist-education>

 

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Not by Power…

The bible tells the story of Caleb, Joshua’s brother, after they had traveled for 40 years in the wilderness and arrived again at the edge of the promise land. Caleb had these words to say, “And now, behold, I am this day eighty-five years old. I am still as strong today as I was in the day that Moses sent me; my strength now is as my strength was then, for war and for going and coming – Joshua 14:10,11. Caleb could not attribute his strength, health and longevity to genes or healthy eating, or great doctors, but because he was willing to be about God’s work.  In fact, right after he said these words he asked for the toughest land to conquer knowing that God would give him the victory.  In your life are you moving forward by faith and in the power of the Lord?

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A Promise Kept

Every one of us have, at some point, made a promise or some commitment we have signed a contract or entered into an agreement to identify our willingness to do what we said we will do.  Marriage, Rental agreement, Cellphone contract, even as simple as signing up to bring the cookies for the Valentines luncheon.  We are constantly entering into agreements, it’s a part of being a member of society but how good are we in keeping them, and what does God have to say on the matter?

The book of Numbers relates the events of the nation of Israel as they are about to take possession of Canaan, the Promised land.  Just before they crossed the Jordon River two and a half tribes out of the twelve decide they want to claim the land where the nation is encamped.  Now this is a big problem – without their numbers the conquest of Canaan would be virtually impossible. So an agreement is made between them that they will settle the land there, get their families situated and then go with the rest of the nation to conquer the rest of the land. In addition they promised to not return to their own land until after the everyone is also able to have land of their own.  

Moses, God’s spokesman, agreed to the plan and said,

If you will do this, … then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the LORD and to Israel, and this land shall be your possession.  But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.  Numbers 32:20-23

This is a warning of expected consequences in the case of broken promises. Should the contract be broken, then they would be declared sinners against not only the people of God but God himself.  And their sin would “find them out”, that is to say that it would follow them and be a curse to them. 

Is sin any less evil today? Can we ignore commitments just because we do not like to carry out our promised agreements, because it is to difficult to do so, or because it would be too big of an inconvenience? The Prophet Samuel answers this way – “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen is better than the fat of rams.”- 1 Samuel 15:22. 

As we enter into the month that is ahead I invite you to consider your commitments to your family, friends, place of work, country of residence  and to your God.  Meditate on the words of the Psalmist who prayed in Psalm 19:13 –  Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression.

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It is I

This devotional thought is not meant for everybody, as a matter of fact is was really meant as a word of encouragement for me.  So if you are not going through any difficulties, if this year been just one blessing after another, if you can’t remember that last trial that drove you to your knees than this message might not resonate with you.  BUT if you have found yourself flat on your face holding onto more faith than facts, if uncertainty is your only certainty, if being led by God has lead you to what seems to be a dead end – then I want to speak to you for the next few moments on a topic I have entitled – It is I

The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.  Ps. 34:19

God does not promise that His people will not have trouble. He does not say that they will never be afflicted, but He promises to bring them out of all their afflictions. In some cases the deliverance may not be complete in this life. God did not keep those young Hebrew captives out of the fire, but  “the form of the fourth” was with them. He did not keep Daniel out of the lions’ den, but his angel delivered him there. He did not keep the apostle Paul out of the storm, but His angel was with him in the storm. Of the apostle Peter, bound with two chains in the innermost prison, it is written: “Suddenly, there was a bright light in the cell, and an angel of the Lord stood before Peter.” (Acts 12:7)

It is indeed true that “upright people face many troubles” BUT the righteous cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their trouble (Ps. 34:17).  In observing Job’s poor state Eliphaz responses and says, in Job 5:7, People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.  What a dark image of life on this earth, made darker by the fact that experience bears it out as true.  But there is something more to it than this. The old preacher, Dr. Edward Judson,  put it this way – “suffering and success go together. If you are succeeding without suffering, it is because others before you have suffered. If you are suffering without succeeding, it is that others after you may succeed.”

It was in the very midst of the storm when, to the disciples in the little boat , everything seemed lost, that Jesus appeared walking on the water and said, “It is I; be not afraid” (Matt. 14:27).

Charlotte Elliott, author of 150 hymns the most familiar of which is Just As I am without one plea, wrote in spite of being described as weak and feeble in body.  In her reflections of Matthew 14 she penned these lyrics found in our old hymnal Christ in Song (#700)…

When waves of trouble round me swell, 
My soul is not dismayed; 
I hear a voice I know full well, - 
Tis I; be not afraid. 

When black the threat'ning skies appear,
And storms my path invade,
Those accents tranquilize each fear,
"'Tis I; be not afraid."

There is a gulf that must be crossed;
Saviour, be near to aid!
Whisper, when my frail boat is tossed,
"'Tis I; be not afraid."

 

I encourage you today to claim these words of prayer by David, found in Psalm 40:13. Claim them for yourself and for your life circumstance, or for someone else in their time of need and deliverance.  The verse says – Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me: O Lord makes haste to help me (Ps. 40:13) and take comfort that God will deliver, and that he will hurry to help.

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Are you an Almost Post-Christian?

The Barna Group faith and culture research organization has published its 2017 list of most post-Christian cities in America. Barna said that the “influence of Christianity in America is waning” and that the role of religion and church in public life is fading.

The group has tried to measure this change in American belief. It has created what it calls the “post-Christian metric” where individuals have to meet nine out of 16 criteria to qualify as post-Christian.

Barna feels that this set of metrics more accurately addresses the beliefs of respondents because it is based on actual practice as opposed to vague affiliation with a given faith. The organization claims that this form of measurement gives a clearer picture of belief versus unbelief.

Do not believe in God
Identify as atheist or agnostic
Disagree that faith is important in their lives
Have not prayed to God (in the last week)
Have never made a commitment to Jesus
Disagree the Bible is accurate
Have not donated money to a church (in the last year)
Have not attended a Christian church (in the last 6 months)
Agree that Jesus committed sins
Do not feel a responsibility to “share their faith”
Have not read the Bible (in the last week)
Have not volunteered at church (in the last week)
Have not attended Sunday / Sabbath school (in the last week)
Have not attended religious small group (in the last week)
Bible engagement scale: low (have not read the Bible in the past week and disagree strongly or somewhat that the Bible is accurate)
Not Born Again

 

– Full article

In reflecting on the survey’s “post-Christian metric” I have to ask the question: By our practices are we what would be considered a “Post Christian”? That would mean that we identified with 9 out of the 16 criteria, and 13 out of 16 would earn us a “highly post-Christian” qualification.

But  more important what does it mean for our Christian walk if we identify with 8, 7, or 6 of the criteria? How much fading can we live with and still be a “solid” Christian – 1, 2, 3? Or is being a “solid Christian” even expected? Is watered-down well enough?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.  “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. – Matthew 16:24-25 NASB

I suspect, after reading the list and highlighting 8 of the criteria that I have seen many consistently struggling with in the church as regular members,  that there are a lot of us who would fit snugly in what I would term  “Almost Post-Christianity”.

Another point of reflection for my fellow pastors – are we running a “Almost Post-Christian Fellowship?